


The Other Side

by Banana_ana



Series: Perils [2]
Category: Bastille (Band), Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Angst, Coming Out, Family Feels, Fluff and Smut, Homophobia, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M, Touring
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-20
Updated: 2019-02-24
Packaged: 2019-05-09 12:18:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 17,505
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14715893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Banana_ana/pseuds/Banana_ana
Summary: Follow up to Perils of a Transatlantic Relationship.Now that Josh has returned home and the nature of his relationship has been announced, what will happen when his family find out? Will the fans have anything to say and how exactly will this long distance relationship actually pan out. Will it still be stable when they are apart for ten weeks?





	1. Chapter 1

“Ladies and Gentleman, we will shortly be arriving into Columbus, thank you for flying with us and we hope you have a great day!”

 

The overly cheery voice broke through Josh’s sleep addled brain and he blinks himself awake, taking in his surroundings. He groans to himself as the stiffness in his neck kicks in as he sits up from where his head had been resting on the inside of the plastic window of the plane. Looking to his side he sees Tyler is still sleeping with his head on Jenna’s shoulder in his seat across the aisle, and he shifts in his own seat so he can get more comfortable.

 

Scrubbing at his eyes, he sighs and looks out of the window, noticing the flaps on the wings starting to shift and move to help with their descent. He moves his leg, tingling affecting his exposed toes as it had been elevated for so long. He wiggles them to get the blood flowing, and trying to avoid shifting the cast. In order to fly back to America, the doctors in New Zealand had had to crack the cast on his spectacularly broken leg so that the long flight and the pressure from the plane wouldn’t cause it to overly swell and disrupt the vital blood supply to the leg. Much to Josh’s disappointment his beautiful turquoise blue cast had been cut right down the middle and then bandaged together with a loose bandage so it didn’t fall off. His instructions were to head to an emergency room as soon as he landed with a letter from the physician who had seen him and get a new one put on.

 

They had been travelling now for near enough twenty-four hours, and his jet lag was barely noticeable now, what with him having slept nearly the entire way from New Zealand. There was a quick layover in Los Angeles while they switched planes to Ohio, but now they were on the home stretch.

 

Looking down at his hands, he catches the flash of black on the thumb nail on his left hand. He smiles as he remembers how the nail varnish had ended up there and then remembers the small bottle that was now in his hold luggage.

 

It had been backstage in Wellington as they had listened to Tyler and Brendon start their second to last gig before having to leave. Not being able to drum due to his leg, Brendon had flown in to stand in for him, and Josh had been watching from the wings with his MacBook – he may not be able to drum, but there was no way he was going to leave Brendon to queue up the songs as well. It wasn’t his hands that were broken.

 

Josh had been relaxing in a chair that Michael had managed to find for him and his laptop was resting precariously on his knees as Tyler had been jumping and throwing himself around the stage for HeavyDirtySoul.

 

“You missing it?” a soft voice had whispered into his ear, only audible because of how close it was. Josh had jumped when he heard it and his head had whipped around to the noise to see his other favourite person looking at him.

 

His boyfriend of a few months had been kneeling next to him smiling softly through his brown beard and with his soulful brown eyes.

 

“Don’t do that! Geez, you give me a heart attack,” Josh had smacked him on his chest lightly and then left his hand there, cheekily feeling the muscle there.

 

Kyle had wiggled his eyebrows at him before reaching forward for a soft kiss. “Don’t start something you know you don’t have time to finish,” he had said to him before kissing him harder and nipping at Josh’s lower lip.

 

Josh pulled back reluctantly when he heard a familiar chord in the song and tapped at a few keys on the keyboard before turning his attention back to the British man next to him. “How long left now?” he asks and furrows his eyebrows, frowning at the taller man.

 

“Dan texted, they’ve just got the van, so they’re about fifteen minutes away,” Kyle says reluctantly.

 

Releasing a deep breath, Josh tries to get one of the sound guys attention so he could hand off the computer and go someone semi private with the other man before he left him.

 

“What the fuck are you doing? Josh Dun sit down!” Kyle said loudly to him and gave him such a stern look it was like his mother, Tyler and Kyle were all channelled through it. To be honest it was quite a chilling moment.

 

“What the…fine! For crying out loud I only wanted to say goodbye…” Josh mumbled under his breath causing Kyle’s stern look to immediately break into a wide grin at the drummer he had come to love in such a short time.

 

As Josh had settled back into his seat, Kyle had grabbed the back of his beck and puled the pink haired man into his chest, holding him tight and he breathed in the heady and undeniable scent of Josh’s shampoo and base smell.

 

“Ten weeks, we can do this,” Josh says to him, as he had pulled out of the embrace, trying to hide the watering in his eyes.

 

“Hell yes! Anyway, it’s not like we aren’t on the same continent,” Kyle had replied. While Josh was recuperating, Bastille were touring around the States, for an extremely extended period for some reason that Josh had never fully understood. “And I hear America has good mobile service now…” he adds at the end with a smirk and Josh cuffs the back of his head in retaliation.

 

“Anyway, I’ve got an idea…how about, on the first day of each week we each paint one of our fingernails, that way we can easily see how long left we have,” Kyle had then murmured softly into Josh’s hair again after he had pulled him closer again.

 

The two of them had agreed and had quickly painted their first nail black. Very soon after they had done that, Kyle had received another message saying that his ride had been waiting for him, and he had had to go.

 

“I love you, you crazy weirdo,” Kyle had told Josh with a smile, trying to hide the upset in his voice.

 

He had pulled Josh’s face towards him with both hands, caressed the sides of it softly and leant down to place a soft kiss on the tip of his nose and then on his lips. Josh was in no mood for being soft, and he had licked against Kyle’s lips before deepening the embrace as much as he could. All he wanted was to savour as much as Kyle’s taste as he could, licking behind his teeth, around his tongue and the roof of his mouth, before pulling back slightly, licking at his lips and then rubbing their noses together in an eskimo kiss.

 

“You know, so you don’t forget me,” Josh says with a wicked grin, and Kyle had looked so blown away that he couldn’t answer. He had just rocked back on his heels and stood again, looking around for his back pack and throwing it over a shoulder.

 

“You know that’s not possible right?” he had finally said and Josh could feel the blush colour his cheeks.

 

That had been three – maybe four – days ago now. Josh had completely lost count with the travelling he had been doing. And the worst thing was he hadn’t had any contact with Kyle since, what with them travelling and then Josh flying home. He was desperately hoping that as soon as he got home he would be able to call him and catch up.

 

“Is everything okay sir?” the air hostess interrupts his thoughts again, checking everyone’s seatbelts were done up as they started their descent.

 

“Yep, cool,” Josh tells her with a closed mouthed smile, and she looks at him again, as if she wanted her to help with something before eventually moving to the front of the plane and seating herself.

 

Eventually they had landed, and everyone had left the plane. Tyler was leaning against the spare seat at the end of Josh’s aisle as they waited for the wheelchair and porter to come and collect them.

 

“Ugh, dude, why does it have to take so long?” Tyler pouts as he crosses his arms and throws himself backwards against the seat. A tired Tyler was a grumpy Tyler, something that Josh had learned very early in their relationship.

 

“You didn’t have to wait, Ty,” Josh shifts again in the uncomfortable plane seat as he leans forward to get his back pack out from under the seat in front of him.

 

“Dude, I’m not gonna let some guy – who probably doesn’t even have a driving permit by the way – drive you all the way back to the building. No! Not on my watch!”

 

“Tyler, it’s a wheelchair!”

 

“Shut up Josh,” Tyler says as the porter arrives and Josh is signalled to make his way to the front of the plane so he can get in to the wheelchair.

 

Hobbling down the narrow aisle, Josh finally reaches the seat and collapses into it. The porter leans down and introduces himself before he moves one of the leg rests into a position that had Josh’s broken leg elevated properly. Josh looks over at his best friend and cocks his eyebrow as if to dare Tyler to say something, but the singer just narrows his eyes and watches every movement before deciding that the man was clearly proficient at his job and he didn’t have to take over.

 

They head into the terminal slowly – well Josh is pushed slowly and Tyler keeps pace, despite looking like he wanted to walk at least ten times faster.

 

“You spoke to your mom yet?” Tyler suddenly says, giving Josh the side eye.

 

“How are you getting home?” Josh tries desperately to change the subject, not wanting to even think about his family.

 

It wasn’t that he didn’t love his family. He really did and he loved his mom so much he had had that tattoo done, but since the last time he had spoken to her – the day of the accident – he hadn’t want to get into the discussion she had tried to start. And like all good sons, instead of talking to her about it, he had done the next best thing…buried his head in the sand and ignore it.

 

The only reason he knew his family was going to be there was because the family grapevine would have let the Dun’s know and he wouldn’t have to.

 

“Jish, you’re an idiot,” Tyler says to him and the drummer just shrugs back at him as they walk into the baggage hall and out into the arrivals hall, knowing that Jenna and Barbie would have organised for their bags to get out to the families.

 

And just like that, as they walk into the domestic arrivals hall, Josh sees his dad and his little brother standing there waiting for him, chatting away to Jenna and her sister.

 

“Just over there,” Josh says to the guy pushing him and he finds his chair being angled towards the waiting family units.

 

As they got closer Josh sees that not only was his dad and Jordan there, but there too was Chris Joseph and Jay waiting for Tyler. As they got closer there was a loud gaggle of noise and chatter as Tyler greets his dad and baby brother with open arms and huge hugs and then gives lesser ones to the Duns too.

 

“Josh, seriously what have you done to yourself?” Bill Dun says as way of a greeting, but he has a wide smile on his concerned face also and leans forward to squeeze his eldest tightly.

 

“Hi Dad,” Josh says, almost shyly, not knowing what to say. He hadn’t spoken to any of his family since he officially came out and he wasn’t sure how any of them were going to take the news.

 

Looking at the smiling faces it seemed they were either fine with it, or they hadn’t heard – but he knew neither of those possibilities would be true. First of all, his mother was a powerhouse of social media stalking and if it was out there she would find it. Therefore, the only logical conclusion that he could come to was that they were being polite in public and around the Josephs and the crap would hit the fan as soon as they were alone.

 

All of this swirled around Josh’s head as the people around him said their goodbyes and farewells. He was shaken back to the present by Tyler reaching down and hugging him tightly.

 

“It’ll be fine, I can hear you thinking from all the way over there,” he whispers into his ear. He puts his hand in Josh’s hair, pulling his head towards him and kisses the top of it gently. “I’ll call tonight Jish,” Tyler calls to him as he walks away and stares him down until Josh nods back at him and gives him a small smile.

 

“Me and Jay got your stuff to the car, so it’s just you now bro,” Jordan’s smiling face beams at him, and his infectious smile gets to Josh quickly. More than anything else he had missed his brother and sister’s so at least he would get some time to see them while he was in town.

 

“Awesome, let’s go then,” Josh says to him and Jordan takes the chair from the porter and heads out to the car.

 

“Excellent, when we get in the car we can have a little chat then,” his dad says and with that Josh feels like ice water had been poured over him.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! Sorry it's been so long! 
> 
> HAPPY PRIDE MONTH PEOPLE!
> 
> Hope you are all doing well! And as always please enjoy. <3

It had been a relatively quiet journey to the emergency room for the emergency room for the three men. Josh had managed to convince his dad that they could talk when they got home, mainly so he didn’t have to go over everything twice when his mom asked all the same questions.

 

Pulling into the parking lot and easily finding a space – thanks to the time of evening it was – Jordan jumps out of the car and sprints to the main entrance to find a chair so he can wheel his big brother inside, completely ignoring Josh’s calls and objections after him saying he would be able to get inside himself.

 

He gives his grinning, floppy haired little brother a glare as he returns and then tries to help him out of the front seat of the SUV his dad drives and into the wheelchair.

 

“I can walk myself, you know,” he grumbles as he is pushed quickly in through the automatic doors and into the main hospital proper.

 

“Yes you can!” Jordan placates him, with an extremely condescending tone, and Josh attempts to hit him from his current position – something which proved to be surprisingly difficult and caused more hysterical laughter from the younger Dun.

 

Jordan parked Josh at the end of a row of seats and the Bill plucks the large manila envelope full of x-ray films out of his hands and wandered up to the reception desk. Before long he was back with a clipboard full of papers and a pen, and handing them over to his eldest to fill in with his personal information and medical insurance numbers.

 

Josh chews thoughtfully on the end of the pen as he stares intently at the ‘next of kin’ space after he had filled in the rest of the forms. He was so used to filling in Tyler’s details in these spaces – what with being with him on tour most of the times he had to fill in names for emergency contacts. But now he was home, he felt weird doing that. Somewhere deep down he wanted to put Kyle’s information on the little dotted lines, but sensibly he knew that was not a good idea right now. Sighing, he ends up putting his mom and dad’s information in and signing the bottom of the form. Absentmindedly he starts tapping out a drum beat on the back of the board as he waits for what was to happen next.

 

The hospital visit is quick – Josh being seen and taken care of quickly. The only thing that disappointed him was now his new cast was boring and white instead of an awesome colour and this upset him a lot. However, the only problem with the visit being so quick is that he is now sitting at home – in the family room – surrounded by his mother, father and three siblings. All five of them silently staring at him. Josh feels judged from all corners and no one has even started talking yet.

 

“Sooooo…” he drags the small word out as long as he can. “How’s everyone been?”

 

“Joshua William Dun,” his mother sighs out, clearly fed up with everything. “You have been ignoring me for nearly two weeks!”

 

“Mom, I’m sorry,” Josh tries to apologise before the argument can get too out of hand. If there was one thing he really couldn’t stand was arguments with his family, and he could feel the twinge of anxiety starting to pull and twist at his insides.

 

“Hang on,” she holds a hand up to him and swings around to look at Josh’s sisters and brother, all relaxing in various poses in different chairs, trying to look as oblivious to all this as they can. “Ashley go home, Abigail and Jordan go upstairs, we need to talk to your brother,” she says to them, and each and every one of them sigh loudly and complain as they get a glare from the matriarch.

 

Josh gets a squeeze from each of them on their way past before the door shuts behind them. Josh continues to watch through the glass windows of the family room door as they go either out the front door or upstairs and their separate ways. He finally moves his eyes back to his mom, and raises his eyebrows and receives a glare in return.

 

“You have been sending my calls to voicemail for over a week Joshua,” his mom starts. “Do you know how upsetting it is when your son seriously injures himself and then doesn’t answer any calls when you try and find out how he is?” she asks him and Josh flushes with embarrassment, not realising exactly how worried his mom would have been after the accident.

 

“I’m really sorry mom, I really am,” he apologises as earnestly as he can, trying to make her believe him. She holds up a hand to stop him talking.

 

“I had to get information from _Jenna’s sister_ , Josh,” she says, sounding even more upset the more she talks. Josh blanches at the thought of the blond getting involved in his life. “Do you know how annoying she is?” and Josh just looks at his mom a gasp at that admission.

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“Oh it was all; ‘well Josh is spending time with this guy, and I don’t know why he won’t pay any attention to me’,” Laura says and rolls her eyes as she turns to her husband.

 

“Oh, yeah, she has it bad for you son,” Bill chimes in with a small smirk, as if the thought of it actually entertained him.

 

“Wha- okay, right…hang on,” Josh splutters, not knowing what to say. He was expecting scripture and verse about his relationship, but his parents were laughing about the person who had been flirting with him for the past few weeks. “I’m so confused…” he shakes his head slowly, and furrows his brow.

 

“What are you confused about son?” his dad asks, genuinely concerned for him.

 

“Well, your joking and laughing about Barbie, but aren’t you angry? Mom, the last time I spoke to you, you were talking about beards…”

 

“Oh, my! Yes, well alright I was a bit shocked when I had spoken to you then, and I am sorry for calling then – I hadn’t gotten my time zones worked out properly,” Laura explains to Josh who just nods along with her, still not quite understanding anything that was happening. Was it jet lag? Is this why it all felt so weird?

 

“We’ll get back to that later, but okay, Joshua, if you want to do this properly let’s start shall we?”  Bill Dun clears his throat and sits up straighter in the chair he was sitting in. He steeples his fingers and rests his chin on them before starting to talk again. “I hear you are seeing someone new Josh, why haven’t we heard anything about them?”

 

He asks in a deep booming voice – the Dun kids called it his ‘Dad’ voice, something he only used when he was trying to be serious. Josh thought he could see the corners of his mouth quirk slightly, but he wasn’t sure whether he had imagined it.

 

Josh nods slightly, his face heating up, as he realises this was the part where everything could quite easily go wrong.

 

“Uhm, yeah. Mom, dad, I am seeing – no dating someone,” he qualifies his relationship to make it sound as serious as it was.

 

“And where did you meet them?” his mom asks, conversationally, but it hadn’t escaped Josh’s notice that she had yet to use any pronouns and that was making him nervous too.

 

“Uhm, a festival. In the UK,” he says quietly.

 

“Does this person have a name?”

 

Josh looks up at that, he had been carefully studying a slight imperfection in the foot of his cast during the whole exchange so far. It was surprising how something so mundane could be so interesting when you were embarrassed and feeling especially awkward.

 

He chews hard on his bottom lip as he looks directly at his mom who is looking back at him, the picture of innocence on her face. He knew they knew. There was no way they couldn’t know, they all followed the band’s social media and knew more about both of the boys then either of them really wanted to admit. But as he looked at his mom he could see that she was intent on dragging this out as much as possible. He just wished she would shout and scream already. Then at least he could then move on and figure everything else out.

 

“He- his name is Kyle,” Josh says finally and feels his shoulders sag, waiting for the onslaught of rhetoric he was expecting.

 

“Kyle? That’s a nice name,” his mom replies with a small smile. Her ‘mom senses’ have kicked in. She can see her son has clearly been worried about this conversation. She had known ever since she had spoken to him on that fateful night.

 

Laura had been, well let’s say surprised, when she had seen the rumours flying around the fans when Josh had had his photo taken constantly with the same man when he was in Europe. But she knew her son. She had created him, carried him for nine months and raised him. She wasn’t stupid and of course she knew that her son wasn’t necessarily as straight as people expected him to be. Even though she was religious she had no problems with the LGBT lifestyle. She wasn’t going to condemn her son. It wasn’t his choice who he loved, and truth be told, she was proud of him for having so much love in him.

 

“Do we get to meet him?” Bill asks, and Josh just stares at them both.

 

“You aren’t mad?” he asks them after what felt like a millennia of silence between them all.

 

“Mad? Why would we be mad?” Laura says, and laughs at the shocked look she gets.

 

“Because it’s a guy,” Josh mumbles back, now really not knowing what to do.

 

“Josh, until Tyler got married I thought you were dating him,” Laura says to him, and that earns her a glare from her son.

 

“Mom,” he whines at her, not wanting to picture that. It was bad enough it was all over the internet. Laura chuckles and gets out of her seat and settles next to her eldest on the sofa.

 

“Joshua, you date who you want. I’m not going to tell you who to love,” she says and puts her arm around his shoulders and pulls him close. He lets out a breath he didn’t even realise he was holding and lets his head flop onto her shoulder.

 

“I still want to meet him,” Bill pipes up from his seat and gets a shy smile form his son.

 

“He’s very handsome, Joshua,” his mom says to him. “I do have a slight suggestion for you though. You don’t have to do it, but I want you to think about it.”

 

Josh pulls away slightly. He can hear the change in timbre of her voice and realises that the conversation has gotten a bit more serious again. He turns to look at his dad, who was pursing his lips as if he wasn’t too happy with what was coming next.

 

“Laura,” he warns, but Laura just looks back at her husband.

 

“No, Bill, I’m gonna say it and then he can decide what to do,” she says and Bill holds up his hands in surrender.

 

“What? What’s going on?” Josh now looks even more confused than he had felt when he was okay with his coming out.

 

“Well, I’ve had a look around the fans,” his mom always kept her finger on the pulse of what the clique was doing and saying. It was good in some ways. Josh didn’t look at many of the fan accounts, but Tyler was a lurker, so he always saw the good and the bad of what was said. “Have you seen what’s been said?”

 

Josh shakes his head to her question. Even though he and Tyler had decided they would look together, they hadn’t had enough energy to deal with any hate they might come across. They had decided to meet up in the next couple of days to look around.

 

“Well, there’s some good and a lot of negativity. A lot of people who loved it when you were with Debby seem to be upset, and there’s a lot of hate towards Kyle…”

 

“No! He hasn’t told me anything,” Josh tries to interrupt, but his mom stops him again.

 

“What I was thinking was,” his mom stops and looks at his dad – who still didn’t look all too happy with the direction of the conversation. “Why don’t you take the time that you and Kyle are apart to go on some dates…maybe with some women, and get that out there too. The fans might ease up a bit and it might not hit the band so hard,” she finishes and looks around at her two men.

 

Josh falls back and hits his head against the cushions. He can’t quite get his head around what his mom’s asking him to do.

 

“Date? Other girls?” Josh tries to clarify. He’s not sure whether he can get it into his head. He loved Kyle. He didn’t want to date anyone else.

 

“Why don’t we talk about this tomorrow?” Bill says finally, seeing his son is confused and possibly upset about everything. Josh rolls his head over to his dad and nods softly. “Anyway, we can always be happy Laura,” and his wife looks over at the man with a strange expression on her face. “Well he lives in LA, he could have ended up with Paris or Britney,” and with the disgusted look on his son’s face the man bursts out laughing at his own joke.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave comments! I love to hear any kind of feedback so please feel free, I don't bite!
> 
> And i'm basnatural on Tumblr, come find me!! <3


	3. Chapter 3

Josh hobbles in through the heavy glass and metal door, managing not to catch his crutches as it shuts behind him, and stands at the hostess pedestal to be seated.

 

He had spent the majority of the previous day in bed, seeping off the tour and the jet lag from his journey back from the middle of the pacific. He had had a lot of time to think about what his mom had proposed to him, but he wanted now to talk it over with his best friend and see exactly what Tyler thought he should do. As soon as he had been texted that morning to see if he wanted to meet for lunch, he immediately accepted.

 

“Welcome to Burger Palace,” the hostess greets him, dressed in charcoal grey skinny jeans and the same colour tee-shirt with the name of the restaurant emblazoned on the breast and the back in bright red. “Is it a table for one?” She smiles a perfectly straight, white smile at him and tosses her ponytail over her shoulder. Josh ignores her blatant attempt at flirting as he looks around the seating area for his friends.

 

“No, my friends aren’t here yet, but it’ll be a table for three,” he says with his own bright smile. She quickly returns it, grabs some menus and leads him towards a booth in the corner of the room.

 

As he scoots on to the end of the red leather bench, the brunette sets the menus down in front of him and looks lustily onto the drummer, leaning seductively against the table. “If I can do anything – and I mean anything – please let me know,” she purrs and puts her hand out towards him. “My name’s Kayleigh,” she adds as Josh shakes the offered hand quickly before dropping it. She gives him a smaller smile this time, before turning and walking away from him, shaking her hips as she walked and glancing back once over her shoulder.

 

“Wow,” Josh mouths to himself as he pulls his phone out of his pocket. He knew he was oblivious most of the time to people flirting with him, but even for him that wasn’t subtle.

 

Shaking his head and laughing to himself, he clicks on the last message that Kyle had sent him. Finally, he had messaged him the previous day and they had spent time on Facetime the previous evening after Kyle had returned from whatever he had been doing that night. They were currently in LA, and Josh was so upset that he couldn’t be there with him. It had crossed his mind at least twice to just jump on a plane and fly over to see him, what with the majority of his life actually being in that city, but then his practical brain kicks in and tells him he has to stay in one place to let his leg heal, and being with his own family was the best place for him.

 

“TYLER! LOOK THERE’S JOSH OVER THERE!” a loud call comes from the entrance of the burger place and Josh immediately looks up when he recognises the voice. Mark was smiling a shit eating grin back at him, his shoulders shaking at his own joke, and Tyler was glaring at both him and his brother, Zack, that seemed to have accompanied them both too.

 

“You’re an ass Mark,” Josh jokes with a smile as his friends sit down, no one actually paying him any attention at all. “And Ty it’s like seventy degrees out there, what are you wearing?”

 

Tyler looks at him and then down at himself. He had a black hoody with a black cap underneath the hood which he had put up. He looks back at his friend with a question on his face. “What?”

 

“Don’t, he’s just…don’t,” Zack says and shakes his head as if he is already done with his brother after twenty-four hours.  

 

“We ordering?” Mark asks as he quickly flicks through the menu and shoves it to the side.

 

“Yup, normal my dude,” Josh says as Tyler stands to go and order. “Oh, Tyler! TYLER!” he shouts, just to really annoy the man. Tyler stops for a beat and then slowly turns around to look at Josh. “Onions,” he says simply with his lopsided smile he knew no one could ever resist.

 

He watches as Tyler walks away muttering something under his breath and the three left at the table all snigger at the sight. While the singer is gone the three men partake in small talk, all knowing each other so well that they never had to sit in uncomfortable silence for very long at all.

 

Tyler returns from the till with the plastic order number and sets it on the metal topped table as a notification noise comes through on Josh’s phone. Taking a sip of Coke from the glass Tyler almost slams down on the table in front of him, he picks his phone up and looks at the screen to see a Twitter notification from Kyle. Yes, he had notifications set up whenever Kyle tweeted – it made him feel like he was closer to him, and he knew for a fact that Kyle had also set up his notifications to alert him whenever Josh felt the need to jump on the social media forum.

 

Lady Gaga and Born This Way blasts through the speakers and Josh nods his head to the beat as he unlocks the phone to see exactly what his boyfriend was announcing to the Bastille fans of the world.

 

_@Kyle_JSimmons – shall I get a couple’s piercing or a couple’s tattoo?_

 

Underneath the caption was a picture that Josh also clicks into, a look of confusion on his face and there in front of him is his boyfriend, a look of contemplation on his beautiful face and behind him a creepy looking hole in the wall piercing and tattoo parlour that looked like the rats and roaches would give it a wide berth.

 

“What the…” Josh mutters and while the other three are looking at him, trying to figure out exactly what is going on, he clicks on Kyle’s cell number and waits for it to connect.

 

_“Babes!”_ he cries down the phone as soon as he answers.

 

“Ky, don’t you dare go in there!” Josh doesn’t even greet him when he hears his voice.

 

_“Go in where?”_ Kyle asks, sounding confused.

 

“That death trap you just posted a photo of!” Josh cries, now clearly concerned.

 

_“Oh, I made a choice! I got my nose pierced, was that not a good place to go to?”_

 

Josh drops the phone on the table in shock. He loved his boyfriend, but he knows as well as he knows Tyler that he would not look good with a nose piercing, and if he got it done in that store, there was probably a good chance he now had some incurable disease. Taking a deep breath in, he picks up his phone again, hearing the faint sound of Kyle calling his name as he brings it back to his ear.

 

“You didn’t?” is all Josh says to him, his voice small and worried.

 

_“Nah, I didn’t,”_ Kyle says simply and all Josh can hear is the loud laughter of a group of people in the background.

 

“The hell you say that for?!” The drummer shouts down the phone, relief sinking in quickly as he realises he’s been played.

 

_“I’m sorry, that was just far too easy,”_ Kyle apologises, laughing as he does so.

 

“Yeah, okay, whatever,” Josh says. “I hope you enjoy your ten weeks of silence there, dude,” he adds with a wry smile.

 

_“Aw babes, don’t be like that,”_ Kyle suddenly goes very serious and Josh smiles wider to himself.

 

“Sorry dude, catch ya later,” he calls down the phone and hits the red button to end the call.

 

He chuckles to himself as he puts the phone down and realises his friends are looking at him. “What?”

 

“So you’re ignoring him now? I get your attention now?” Tyler asks him, with a look that makes Josh realise how jealous his best friend was getting.

 

“Sorry Ty,” Josh apologises, he knows he has spent too much time with Kyle recently and now they were back in Columbus he knew that Tyler wanted to spend some more one on one time together. “You want to take control of this?” he asks and holds his cell out to his friend.

 

Tyler pouts and looks at him for all of two seconds before snatching the handset out of his hands and putting it next to him on the table. “I will reply to him if he texts,” he warns his friend.

 

“I know you will,” Josh says soothingly and takes another sip of his coke.

 

“Yeah, so Josh, Tyler said you were batting for the other team now,” Zack says conversationally, and at that moment Kayleigh brings their order over to the table with an even brighter smile now that Josh had been joined by three more attractive men.

 

As soon as she hears Zack’s statement her smile falters ever so slightly and she starts beaming at the rest of the men at the table. Josh smirks and laughs to himself.

 

“Thanks Zack,” he says once she leaves them all, and he picks up the bottle of ranch dressing before Tyler can even ask and hands it to him.

 

“Well it’s not really a secret now is it?” he asks, shoving a handful of fries in his mouth, and Josh wonders not for the first time how someone so attractive and related to Tyler can still act so much like a frat boy. He shakes his head at the thought as he replies.

 

“No, I s’pose not. I’m just used to not talking about it.”

 

“What did your mom say?” Tyler asks between mouthfuls, knowing that her reaction was one that his friend was really worried about.

 

“She was surprisingly okay with it,” Josh tells him and takes a large bite of his burger, and starts to chew thoughtfully. Once he had swallowed he starts to recount the story of his first night back to – well Tyler, but the other two listened in carefully.

 

“Okay,” the singer says slowly. He relaxes back in the booth and puts his arm along the back of it as he turns to fully face Josh. “So what do you want to do?”

 

“Ugh, I knew you were gonna ask me that!” Josh laments loudly and puts his head in his hands as he pretends to cry. “I don’t know what I want to do!”

 

“Oh for crying out loud,” Mark throws himself back in the seat opposite them, and gets a death glare from Tyler in response. “I’m sorry, but more of this Josh and Kyle drama, I don’t think I can take it!” he says, a smile in his voice, but Josh could tell he was being serious.

 

“Oh, I’m sorry Mark, we’ll just get Josh to pipe down for a while until you’ve got a bit more time shall we? I mean heaven forbid he listen and help you with all of your love life _drama_!” Tyler was in attack dog mode now, and Josh knew he should try and calm him down a bit before it got out of hand. He pats him solidly on his arm until Tyler looks at him and raises an eyebrow. “Yeah, yeah, I know,” he mutters to him.

 

“Can I at least see a picture of him?” Zack interrupts, and glad to get the attention off of himself for a moment, Josh looks pleadingly at Tyler and his friend rolls his eyes at him.

 

“Fine, but I find one,” he says and he taps the passcode into the phone and starts to type his name into Google to find an embarrassing photo of his best friend’s boyfriend.

 

“There are plenty on the phone, Ty,” Josh tries to tell him.

 

“Nope, those are the cute couply ones, Zack doesn’t want to see those,” he replies matter of factly and Josh looks at Zack who just shrugs and nods in agreement.

 

“So while he’s looking for that,” Zack starts and then turns serious as he looks at Josh. “Dude, I’ve seen some of the comments. Some of them aren’t’/t good. I mean, I’m almost certain it’s the younger fans who are upset, but they are having a good moan about you and Kyle,” he tells him.

 

Josh sighs and his shoulders slump in his seat as he starts eating again, although his appetite has now decreased substantially. “Yeah, mom said as much.”

 

“And then there’s the ones who think you and Tyler are actually together and they see this as a betrayal,” Zack continues which draws a groan from both of the men.

 

“So the way I see it,” and Josh leans forward to listen more intently to him, he couldn’t actually believe he was about to get advice from Zack Joseph, but here he was. “Is, you do what your mom said and be seen out with some girls, even if they’re just friends, get some photos out there, get the heat off of Kyle for a while but never admit anything. And then when he turns up here – Ty says he’s coming by in a few weeks yeah?” and Josh nods in agreement, “well the two of you and Ty and Jenna start hanging out properly, get yourself seen with him, slowly at first so that people get used to it, instead of just springing it on the, like you have,” Zack relaxes back in his seat and crosses his arms.

 

“Hey, I didn’t spring it on anyone, big mouth over there did,” Josh retorts and he can see Tyler’s face flushing in embarrassment. But he can’t help but think that Zack’s idea seemed like a pretty good one.

 

“Geez! Jish! This will not do, oh no!” Tyler suddenly cries and everyone looks at him.

 

“What?” Josh slides over the seat to get closer to see the phone. “Oh my…” and he bursts out laughing.

 

On the screen was a group shot of Kyle, Dan, Woody, Charlie and a blond girl that Josh recognises as one of the assistants standing all dressed in banana outfits. “When was that taken?”

 

“No idea, but this can’t stand,” Tyler screenshots it and tweets out using Josh’s twitter account.

 

_@joshuadun – @Kyle_JSimmons its Josh or the bananas, you choose, T_

 

He hits send before Josh can steal his phone back and Josh groans as he sees the retweets and likes increase, he knows that a lot of his tweets get retweeted before anyone actually reads them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys!
> 
> Ok, I don't mean to beg, but please let me know what you guys are thinking!! (OK this does look like I'm begging, but y'know it does make me write faster :p )
> 
> <3


	4. Chapter 4

_“Mamma, just killed a man,_

_Put a gun against his head, pulled my trigger now he’s dead…”_

 

Josh hugs a spare pillow tight to his chest as he watches the screen of his laptop, sitting precariously on the edge of his bed. His broken, casted leg is propped up on a self-made nest of cushions at the end of the bed and he looks down at it quickly to try and shift into a more comfortable position. He wiggles his toes to get the circulation flowing again, and sighs loudly as he turns his attention back to the dancers on the screen.

 

_“Mama, life had just begun_ _  
But now I've gone and thrown it all away…”_

The all too familiar song thrums into his head as he thinks about the ultimatum text Tyler had tweeted to his boyfriend. Tyler had meant it as a joke. He was just being Tyler, but he hadn’t heard anything back from Kyle. Before he was able to either delete it or let Kyle know, a small sub section of the clique had started sending hate to the other band over all means of social media. He hadn’t spoken to any of the brits since it happened, but he had seen the things being sent to them.

 

_“If Tyler doesn’t like him, I hate him.”_

_“Get away from our boys, and go and get someone else.”_

_“Stupid fag, Josh isn’t gay so stop trying to turn him! Stay in your own country.”_

And these were some of the nicer ones Josh had seen. Scrubbing a hand over his eyes, he lets out another sigh and tries to pay attention to Johnathan Groff dancing on the screen in front of him. A knock at his bedroom door shifts his attention and he calls a ‘come in’ to whoever was coming to see him.

 

The door cracks open, and his sister peeks through before opening it wide and slipping through and into the room. Abigail smiled at her big brother from the doorway and gives him a sad smile before sitting on the end of his twin bed, laying a hand on the cast and tapping it lightly.

 

Josh takes the moment to actually see the small changes in his youngest sister. He hadn’t seen her that much before he had gone on tour, and he had been sleeping most of the time he had been back. Her auburn hair was slightly longer, and more feathered around her face, and she looked happy and healthy. Clearly life was treating her well.

 

He hugs the pillow again and puts his nose on the end of it so his mouth is covered and he just looks at Abi, waiting for her to say something. The music from the computer gets her attention and she looks to see what’s playing on it.

 

“Are you watching Glee?”

 

“I’m tired, sore and stressed. Don’t judge me,” is all Josh says back to her and he hits the space bar to pause the program.

 

“What’s up bro?” she asks him finally. And Josh knows that she knows exactly what has been happening on line. The one thing his family had been good at since he became big was using social media and he knew they all kept an eye on his accounts.

 

“Tyler,” Josh replies simply.

 

“Yeah, you gave him your phone? That was stupid,” Abi swats his knee, making sure not to his him anywhere where it might hurt. Josh shrugs and collapses further into himself. “That’s only a small proportion of the fans you know?” she tries to comfort him.

 

“Hmm, but it’s big enough,” Josh almost whines back.

 

“Look, they’re surprised, sure, it was a shock alright? But Josh, don’t deny who you are or what you want for them,” Abi looks at him earnestly, and inches up to the top of the bed to be closer to him. “Don’t do this thing mom wants. Or if you do, just go out for some friendly things, but still be seen to be with Kyle. Joshua, you have looked happier in the couple of photos that they actually got of the two of you than I have seen you in years. Don’t deny yourself please.”

 

Josh looks at his sister, wise beyond her years in so many ways.

 

“When did you get so smart?” he asks her with a small smile on his face.

 

“Well, one of us kids had to get the brains, and it sure wasn’t gonna be you or Jordan,” she sasses with a smile, and starts to get up from the bed before she’s stopped with a hand to her wrist and gets pulled on top of the bed, screaming shortly before starting to laugh.

 

Josh envelops her into a tight bear hug and presses a hard kiss to the top of her head.

 

“Thanks pipsqueak,” he says to her and she jumps up and flounces to the door before opening it.

 

“Don’t call me that!” she calls back as she heads back down the stairs to where Josh can smell and hear the noises of dinner carrying on.

 

\---

After his talk with Abi and then another talk with his mother, Josh had decided that he would ‘be seen’ with women of his own age. He had done it before when it was ambiguous whether he was dating or not. After he and Debby had broken up, he was linked with every girl he went near, so it wasn’t as if it was a new thing for him. What was a new thing was that he was doing it _while_ he was in a relationship with someone else. He had talked to Kyle about his decision and surprisingly he had been alright with it. Kyle’s reasoning was that he would be seen with girls as well – mainly because Dan apparently had no male friends and when he was around Dan for as long as he would be this time he would be seen with mainly females. He understood where everyone was coming from, but he was also looking forward to getting to Ohio and proving to the world that the two of them were together for the long haul.

 

A week passed and since the initial flurry of attention from both sides of the Atlantic, it seemed to have settled down for both Josh and Kyle.

 

Kyle woke up in the middle of his far too big bed, seemingly having created a nest of sheets for himself while he was sleeping. They were still in Los Angeles and Dan was working with a couple of high profile producers and writing a few songs while they were there. The time had been incorporated into their time out there and they were also due to film and record some live versions of songs from the album later this week.

 

Kyle feels like he has been run over by a bus – they had all been out partying much later than intended the previous night and he doesn’t quite remember any of what happened while he was out. Apparently it had ended uneventfully – he sees a pile of the clothes he knew he had gone out in next to the room door where he had clearly not been bothered to put them away, his phone was in the bed next to him and his wallet appeared to be on the bedside table.

 

All in all, he would call the night a success – he had certainly had nights out with Dan where he had returned with an awful lot less. Feeling pleased with himself he pulls his phone back over to him and he looks to see a message waiting for him

 

Josh – ring me when you wake up, and tell me if you remember what you said

 

Is all the message said. Feeling a little less certain about what he had actually done the night before now, he scrolls through messages and sees nothing that he didn’t remember sending.

 

“Fuck. What the fuck did I fucking do?” Kyle says to himself and thrown himself back into his pillows. He rubs his face almost painfully to try and wake himself up a bit more.

 

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck,” he continues as he rolls out of bed and onto the floor, before literally crawling over to the small mini bar underneath the built in wooden wardrobe in the corner of the room.

 

Pulling the door open and yanking out the largest can of Red Bull he had ever seen in his life, he opens the ring pull with a hiss and takes a long drink to try and wake himself up. He had always hated the cool caffeinated drink before he met Josh, but after spending so long with only them in New Zealand he had found he now quite enjoyed the initial burst he got from it. Admittedly he had balked at the price of it when he had looked on the first day there, but this was clearly and emergency and he needed it.

 

After draining half of the can and feeling a little bit more alert, he finally gets up off the carpeted floor and walks over to where he had dropped his mobile phone. It was nearly ten which meant with the time difference it was nearly one in Columbus if he did his maths right. Okay, he could do this. He had no idea what stupid thing he had said to Josh last night, but he could ring his boyfriend and find out exactly how big of an arse he had made of himself. He takes a deep breath and hits the call button before smoothing his beard down nervously.

 

He listens to the foreign ring tone on his phone as he plays with his rings on his hand and looks at the now two black painted nails on his hand. He smiles as he remembers the plan they both had and he hopes Josh has done his second nail too.

 

A click on the end of the line signifies someone has picked up, but no one says anything for a while and all Kyle can hear is random chatter in the background, like his boyfriend was in a busy restaurant or something.

 

“…yeah, yeah, hang on, I really have to get this okay? Kyle?” the familiar timbre of Josh’s voice immediately calms the older man. He smiles to himself as he hears a slight questioning in the other man, almost as if he was expecting him still to be drunk.

 

“Uhm, exactly how much did I fuck up last night?” Kyle asks without even saying hello.

 

“Well hello to you too gorgeous,” Josh says with a smile clear in his own greeting. Kyle hears a rush of air and then the noise in the background abates, Josh having moved someone a lot quieter – outside possibly?

 

“I did something really stupid didn’t I?” Kyle asks again, really worried now.

 

“Can’t you remember anything?”

 

“No! I was shit faced! Dan buys like crates of…god knows what!” Kyle exclaims a bit too loudly, and he checks himself before starting again. “So if I did anything totally inappropriate, like try and get you off over the phone, or send you crude dick pics…”

 

“Well, I liked the pics,” Josh says a bit quieter, clearly so no one could over hear him, and Kyle hits his head against the head board of the bed with a loud thunk. “But, there was something else, but I don’t think I can talk about it right now,” he adds, and Kyle hears someone that sounded a lot younger than expected call hello to him.

 

“Oh, fuck, is that fans? Babes, sorry! Look, I’m in some studio this afternoon and Dan has something planned for tonight, please text me when you’re home and I’ll try and call?”

 

“For sure! No problems,” Josh says, almost too happily down the phone and Kyle can tell that too many people are around for him to say anything else.

 

“I love you Jay,” Kyle says softly.

 

“I know,” Josh replies, but before he can hang up all Kyle hears from whoever was next to Josh was:

 

_“So does this mean you and Debby are back together?”_

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading!! Please stay with me!!
> 
> <33


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone. So in celebration of the wonderful day today has been, please have another chapter. 
> 
> I know i've been gone for a while, but I'm hoping to get back into a regular posting pattern.
> 
> Please enjoy!

“So, what exactly are you doing in Ohio,” Josh asks, pulling the chair out from the table and sitting down, carefully avoiding moving his leg the wrong way or hitting it against anything. For the first time since the accident he found that the limb was starting to ache way more than it had been and he wished he had pocketed his pain killers before he left to meet his ex for lunch.

 

He had been surprised when Debby had texted him out of the blue. Sure they had kept in touch since their break up, but they weren’t what he would classify as close friends. But when she then called and said she was in Columbus and needed to talk, Josh had to seriously think whether he wanted to ump down that rabbit hole again.

 

He knew that the times he had seen the girl before he had pined seriously hard for her. To the point that when they said goodbye to each other – even if they had barely talked – he felt like the break-up had happened all over again. They had been happy together, but they were just too different. It wasn’t until now, with Josh fully accepting his bisexuality that he finally realised how different they were.

 

So here they were, Josh keeping the meeting secret from his boyfriend and sitting opposite his ex-girlfriend waiting to find out what she wanted. Her light brown doe eyes shining back at him as she watches his every move, but she doesn’t get up to help him with his crutches. He couldn’t help but realise this was all going to be a mistake, but there wasn’t anything he could do about it now.

 

“You’re looking good, Josh,” Debby says in response, and starts to flick through the menu in front of her.

 

“Thanks, you too,” he tells her with a small smile. He couldn’t help but think how completely out of place she looked in his hometown, and also how suspicious this whole thing was going to look to fans and outsiders alike. “But, really, why are you here?” he questions again, picking up a piece of the complimentary bread that was in front of him and starting to shred it with his fingers onto his side plate.

 

“Well,” and she drags the word out, widening her eyes, and Josh knew the tone all too well to guess that she was definitely about to ask for a favour.  He raises his eye brows at her and then puts his chin in his hands as he waits for her to get to it. “I have a thing in Manhattan in two weeks’ time…”

 

“There it is,” Josh says as he sits back in his chair, smirking at her and shaking his head. “Don’t hear from you in months and now you need me for something,” he says to her and starts throwing pieces of bread into his mouth as he waits for her to continue.

 

“Well, the way I see it you do kinda owe me, dude,” she says to him and his eyes widen in shock at what she says.

 

“What on earth do I owe you for?” his voice rises slightly in slight anger, and he smiles – his default face setting when he doesn’t know what else to do.

 

“Well all of a sudden you’re gay? You maybe wanted to give me a little heads up on that?” she says, indignant that she even had to tell him. Josh flushes slightly. Admittedly, the first person he should have maybe spoken too after the news came out was Debby. They still told each other they were friends and he could see how this might impact on her.

 

“I’m bi,” Josh mutters, and starts to chew at the inside of his mouth again.

 

The two of them go silent as the server approaches the table with a small smile on his face to take their order. Thankfully even though he had recognised them, he didn’t ask for selfies or autographs. As much as Josh had indulged the people who had accosted him outside he wasn’t in the mood for being a ‘happy celebrity’ at the moment.

 

Water is poured into crystal glasses for them to sip as their menus are removed and they are left alone again.

 

“Bi doesn’t make my life any easier Joshua!” Debby hisses across the table. “God knows I know what it’s like for guys to be in the closet, look at where I started, but seriously? You couldn’t even shoot off a text saying ‘hi babe, just to let you know that I’m with a _guy now_ ’?!”

 

“Yes, okay! I was wrong alright? I’ve said it now, now what do you want?” Josh bites back, angrier now. He had only just come out to his family under duress and writing to his ex just wasn’t high up on his list of priorities.

 

“I need a date,” Debby says after considering the man closely and then taking a drink from her water.

 

“Debs, we just went over this,” Josh starts, not too sure where the girl was going with this.

 

“Yeah, well I spoke to Ash and she said you’re gonna be doing some ‘ _dates_ ’,” and she uses literal air quotes around the final word and Josh groans.

 

“For this thing in Manhattan?” Josh clarifies and raises his eyebrows.

 

“Yup,” she says, making a popping sound at the end of the word.

 

A garden salad suddenly appears in front of the actress and a burger is placed in front of the drummer. Josh pushes it away, suddenly no longer feeling hungry, and strokes his chin, scratching the overnight stubble that had grown there.

 

He remembers why he was doing all of this and he was still friends with Debby. This would be one night. Nothing would be happening and essentially he was helping out a friend and nothing more. It was nothing more than what he had already agreed he would be doing anyway, at least this way it was with someone he knew and he wouldn’t have to make awkward small talk for the evening and he could maybe enjoy himself.

 

“When?” he finally asks, picking up one of his fries and dipping it in ketchup before chewing on it.

 

“Next week,” Debby replies with a smirk forming on her pretty features. She gets a forkful of salad leaves and pushes them in her mouth as she waits for the inevitable answer from the man she knew possibly too well.

 

“Fine. Send me the details and I’ll get a suit and stuff sorted,” he finally agrees and looks up at the smiling face of the girl sitting across from him.

 

“Aw, honey, I knew you wouldn’t let me down!” she says and clasps the hand closest to her tightly.

 

Josh shakes his head with a smile and looks at their hands together. It hits him then and there like a freight train - he hadn’t felt any romantic feelings towards Debby at all. And all he could think of was a certain British man on the other side of the country.

 

\---

“Debby?” Dan asks with a weird scrunched look on his face.

 

They were sitting in the large studio waiting for everyone around them to set up. Violinists, cellists - and Kyle is certain he saw a viola – are setting up their precious instruments around them. Stylistically placed triangles have been set up to light up certain parts of the room and their friend Tom is checking the lighting for the video he is about to shoot of them.

 

Biding their time, Kyle and his lead singer friend were both straddling the extra-long piano stool they would be sharing for the shoot. Facing each other and both on their mobiles, Kyle had finally told Dan exactly what was bothering him after being silent and moody for the best part of two hours.

 

“His ex,” Kyle grumbles to his best friend and raises an eye brow. Dan makes a noise that sounds suspiciously like ‘eeeeesh’ at the information and gives Kyle a pitying look.

 

“Thanks mate, feel totally confident now,” the synth player replies sarcastically and turns so he’s facing the piano, pressing a few keys for effect.

 

Rolling his eyes, Dan moves so he’s sitting the same way as his friend. He looks around as he hears a clatter and scoffs when he sees Woody dropping a cymbal on top of a bass drum he was trying to move and he shuffles further towards Kyle.

 

“Look, talk to the guy,” he says as he puts his arm around the taller man’s shoulders. “You’re meant to be in love, right, so he won’t be doing anything stupid,” he adds.

 

“Unlike me you mean?” Kyle says with a laugh.

 

“I thought that went without saying,” Dan replies without missing a beat, and Kyle elbows him in the side in retaliation.

 

“Look at this though,” he says and hands his phone over to his friend, a picture of Josh sitting at a table in a nice restaurant across from an overly pretty brunette with wide eyes. The caption underneath just proclaims “Jebby is back” and has a number of heart eye emojis after it.

 

“Mate, Tom could post a photo of you and me right now and our fans would proclaim Dyle to be forever. This means nothing!” Dan hands the mobile back to its owner and hugs him a bit more fully.

 

“I know,” Kyle grumbles into Dan’s shoulder.

 

A ringtone and rumbling noise comes from the side of the pair from where Kyle had placed his handset and thy both look over to it as Kyle sees a Facetime call coming through. Picking up the iPhone he looks at the ID and even he’s surprised to see who it is.

 

“Crap, I better get this,” he says and stumbles as he gets up from the seat he had gotten far too comfortable on.

 

“Take your time, I think Tom thinks he’s setting up for some BAFTA winning video,” Dan sasses and Kyle watches Tom flip him off behind his back.

 

Opening the door, he quickly slips out and into the wood lined corridor leading into the studio. He had managed to take his time appreciating the many framed vinyl records adorning the walls on the way in, but in his haste to answer the call he almost knocks at least three of them off. He hits the accept button and waits for the video to start.

 

He laughs lightly as he sees who is actually ringing him and he feels his shoulders automatically release their tension.

 

“Well, it makes more sense seeing your beautiful face, gorgeous,” he says lightly as the screen lights up with Jenna’s perfectly bronzed face, framed with her golden blond hair. He infection smile appears when she hears the compliments slip from Kyle’s lips.

 

“Yeah, Ty had your number and I didn’t,” she says with an airy laugh and her blue eyes sparkle. “How you doing?” she asks him as if she knows telepathically that he had been struggling that afternoon.

 

His face clearly betrays the confident persona he was trying to show, as Jenna just frowns down the phone at him. “Kyle I know you’ve seen the photos,” she says to him and he can feel his face fall into confusion.

 

“Do you scare Tyler like this too?” he finally asks, not being able to find any other witty come back.

 

“I don’t even try to do anything now, she just knows,” someone shouts off screen. Kyle laughs as he recognises Tyler’s voice.

 

“Look, they won’t be doing anything other than meeting for a friendly lunch, okay?” Jenna tells him confidently.

 

“Really?” Kyle asks, his voice making him sound both smaller and younger than he actually was.

 

“Oh my gosh! Tyler he’s so cute!” Jenna gushes, and Kyle rolls his eyes before putting on a stoic, grumpy look.

 

“I’m not cute,” he says, deepening his voice for effect. “I’m manly. And…gruff?” he says, not too sure whether that was the word he was looking for.

 

“Dude you look constipated now,” Tyler’s dark features take over the screen and Kyle suddenly feels incredibly intimidated by him. It was an impressive feat…not many people scared Kyle, but Tyler made him feel like he could kill him, hide the body and he’d never be found. Especially when it came to Josh.

 

“Call him dude,” Tyler says after a moment. “Get him to explain. And then get him to call me and he can explain to me too,” he mutters afterwards, clearly upset that he didn’t know what was going on in his best friend’s life. “See ya later dude,” he adds, almost as an afterthought and the screen goes back to Tyler’s profile photo.

 

Kyle looks at the phone before deciding to call his boyfriend.

 

“Tyler will only use it against me if I don’t,” he mutters to himself as he finds Josh’s number and hits the Facetime button and waits for the call to connect.

 

He chews the side of his lower lip as he waits for the dark screen to come up with his boyfriend’s cheery face, his bright gleaming smile the best thing that Kyle had seen all day.

 

“Hey! I wasn’t thinking you would have time to call!” Josh beams down the camera to him and Kyle can’t help but smile back. He takes in his boyfriend’s deep brown eyes, the familiar nose ring and his hair which was flopping over his forehead where it was slightly too long now.

 

“Yeah, set up’s taking an age,” Kyle explains and moves a bit further down the corridor so no one could overhear him. “Uhm, babes, seen some stuff online,” Kyle says and bites down hard on the inside of his cheek to stop himself from saying anything else too bad.

 

“Oh, with Debby?” Josh asks and his smile falters slightly. “Yeah, she surprised me this morning and wanted to have lunch. She needs a plus one to an event in New York next week and wants me to be it,” he says, almost too quickly as if he wasn’t sure how Kyle would react.

 

The breath Kyle releases almost blows the handset out of his grasp. “So you’re not getting back together with her?”

 

“What? No! Kyle! I’m with you! I love you! Why would you even think that I would be getting back with her?” Josh exclaims, loudly and the view of him dips slightly as he clearly looks around to see if anyone was nearby to hear him.

 

“I just thought…what with the things online…and the fans being happy…”

 

“Oh my gosh! Ky, baby, I’m with you! And I wouldn’t ever do anything like that. Please I thought you knew me better than that,” Josh looks hurt as he says it. “Actually, no, gosh I’m stopping this whole thing if it’s making you uncomfortable.”

 

“No! Josh, no! This will help everything alright. I’m fine. I was being stupid and insecure. I’m good. I just miss you okay,” and he holds up his thumb and index finger on his left hand. “Two weeks down,” he adds as he shows Josh the two black painted nails.

 

“Eight to go,” Josh finishes and shows Kyle his own. They both smile at each other for a moment, just enjoying looking at each other.

 

“So what exactly did I do last night?” Kyle asks finally, his own face screwing up waiting for the latest of Kyle’s Drunken Escapades to be told to him.

 

“Oh not much,” Josh replies lightly and Kyle sighs with relief. “You just told me you were moving over to live with me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please let me know what you think! I'm all ears! <3


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! I'm sorry it's been too long. Really desperately trying to make a more regular posting schedule for all of my WIPs so please stick with me!!
> 
> Please enjoy!

  “What do you think, Kyle?”

 

“Hm?” Kyle replies absent-mindedly, scrolling through his phone for more specific songs he could add to the play list he was making on Spotify.

 

It was late morning, and the four men were currently sitting in a mini-bus on their way to a radio station in order to do one of their organised interviews. Kyle had gotten to the point where he didn’t even know what state he was in; let alone what city they were visiting. It was a long tour in the states this time, but it didn’t mean they were able to let up in their appearances and performances.

 

“Kyle!” Will shouts from the front of the car and Kyle fumbles with his mobile and drops it into the foot well in front of him.

 

“What, William?!” Kyle yells back in frustration. He bends forward to try and grab his phone, but not before Woody silently turns round in his seat and picks it up. “Woody, give that back,” he warns, a threatening tone in his voice.

 

“Why? What you got that’s so interesting on there?” the drummer expertly keeps the handset away from him and quickly taps in Kyle’s security code to open the phone up.

 

“I don’t even want to know how you know that,” Kyle exclaims loudly as he tries to climb over the back of the seat that Woody was in to get his phone back. The bus veers around a sudden corner and into a covered area in front of a tall office building, knocking Kyle backwards back into his seat, and he clatters his head against the window as it comes to a halt. He shoots his friend a death glare.

 

“Hey you should have had your seatbelt on,” Woody replies without even glancing up at him. “Oh my god, mate are you making him a playlist?”

 

“What?” Dan screams gleefully, his face lighting up into a bright smile despite the large black bags under his eyes. He launches over to Woody to look at what he was looking at.

 

“Seriously, Christopher if you don’t give that back to me now,” Kyle threatens, and starts to clench his fists together.

 

“No, this is good, this is really good, mate,” Dan says, smile still on his face, but him now taking possession of the phone. “Aw, look it says ‘Josh” with a love heart, okay, now that’s just precious,” he adds with a smirk.

 

“Guys, come on, give Kyle his phone back and let’s get going yeah?” Dick pipes up from the steps of the bus and stares at the all until someone gives in.

 

Dan continues to scroll lazily through the list, his eyes widening and then giggling as certain songs catch his eye.

 

“Mate this is mainly one hit wonders!” he says and Kyle takes his opportunity while the singer is distracted to lurch forward and grab his phone from his friend and shoves it forcefully in his pocket.

 

“I hate you,” Kyle points at Woody and then he pushes Dan into the empty seat as he passes. “I quit, after this I’m gone,” he adds as he storms down the two steps and off onto the pavement in front of the building.

 

He stands, face like thunder and away from the team of wranglers they always had with them when they went anywhere. A nameless face that Kyle was sure he had been introduced to at some point was inside signing them in and getting their passes for the visit. He crosses his arms and narrows his eyes as Woody, Dan and Will all skip down the steps of the bus together, laughing as if what had happened was the funniest thing they had seen in ages.

 

Dan skips up to him, almost like a puppy with a new toy, but as soon as he sees Kyle’s face his laughing stops immediately.

 

“Oh, don’t be like that mate,” he says and throws an arm around his shoulder, pulling him in to hug him. Kyle’s back stiffens in his embrace, but he doesn’t pull away. “You can’t leave us, who’s gonna laugh at all my lame jokes?”

 

Kyle raises an eyebrow and just looks at him. He can feel the anger abate as his friend looks into his eyes. Even though he was now with Josh, and his feelings for Dan were starting to fade pretty quickly, he still couldn’t be angry at the blue eyed singer for very long. And unfortunately his puppy dog eyes were just as effective as his boyfriend’s in times like this.

 

“Fine,” he sighs loudly. “I still hate you though,” he adds and points at Dan as he turns and walks towards where Dick and Erica were standing.

 

“Everything okay?” the blond asks him as he gets closer. She sidles up to him and leans against the significantly taller man in a very unsubtle way.

 

“Meh,” is all Kyle says and folds his arms again. He waits silently for them all to be asked inside and for the interview to begin.

 

\---

The four musicians walk into a large white space what had an entire wall of picture windows looking out over the nameless, faceless city they were in. Kyle noticed quickly that two podiums had been set up and he noticed the equipment pointed to it that was clearly going to film the interaction for whatever social media outlet the station favoured.

 

Still angry with the rest of his band, Kyle kept a small distance between the other three men as the rest of the group disappeared into another room. There was a small audience of who the man could only assume were fans and they were all sitting almost in a semi-circle looking towards them as they entered, and there was a loud applause and small screams when they saw Dan come in. Kyle managed to ignore the urge he had to roll his eyes when he heard it – the almost cult like following that Dan had managed to get was crazy but impressive considering what a nerd he actually was.

 

Bouncing into the room after them was that day’s interviewer. Bleached blond tips and bright white smile made Kyle want to put his sunglasses back on to shade himself. They had not been introduced before they walked in but they had been told that the guy’s name was Blaine and that he was going to be asking some general knowledge questions. Well, Kyle assumed that was what he was going to be doing, admittedly he hadn’t really been paying attention.

 

“Hi everyone! Hi guys!” the bouncy man said, a smile plastered on his face. Kyle looked at him strangely, he was far too happy and far too smiley for that him.

 

Dan smiles back and waves with a shy ‘hi’ and all the girls in the room seem to melt at the action. The rest of the band wave after him, and wait for him to take the lead like normal. Kyle walks to the back of the group to stand behind Will.

 

“You alright there, baby?” Will murmurs to him as he stands a bit closer to him. Kyle chews at the inside of his cheek and looks over at him. He wrinkles his nose as if he wasn’t too sure about how he was feeling and Will throws a protective arm around his shoulders. “Ignore them, they’re children,” he mumbles and Kyle snorts out loud, much to the surprise of everyone around them.

 

“So are y’all ready then?” Blaine asks the room in general and Kyle looks up quickly, suddenly realising he had missed something pretty important.

 

The room cheers in agreement and Dan and Woody look at each other nodding and then looks back at the synth and bass players who both look as confused as each other. Dan rolls his eyes and moves towards them.

 

“I’ll take Will and you take Kyle,” he says to Woody who nods and the drummer then walks over to the taller man and drags him to one of the waiting podiums.

 

“What the fuck are we doing?” Kyle asks under his breath as he walks over and sees a microphone, a white board and a sharpie sitting on the small make shift table.

 

“A game. About an American band, and we see who’s got the best knowledge.”

 

“Who’s bright idea was that?” Kyle asks, his brow furrowing in confusion.

 

“I don’t know mate, I come here to drum and look pretty,” Woody replies and then elbows Kyle in the side to pay attention to the proceedings.

 

“Alright guys! I am holding two envelopes in my hands and Dan, you get to choose which one we ask questions from,” Blaine announces in an almost authentic game show accent. Kyle was actually impressed with the guy.

 

Dan looks carefully at the two envelopes in his hands. One was a bright neon pink, and the other an almost illuminous blue. He scratches his chin thoughtfully and then chooses.

 

“I think I’ll go for Kyle’s favourite colour,” he says and pulls the bright pink one from the man’s hands, winking at his friend in the process.

 

“Aw thanks mate,” Kyle replies sarcastically, but he knows for certain no one but his friends in the room would have caught it.

 

“Awesome, so the rules to this are simple. I ask the questions and you write down the answers and we’ll reveal them at the same time!” Blaine announces, his excitement infecting the small crowd, but still avoiding the tall bearded man who just wanted to get back to his hotel room.

 

The American rips the paper open and pulls out the questions inside before looking at them.

 

“So, the American band that our British cousins are gonna answer questions on are...Twenty One Pilots!”

 

At the announcement, Kyle bites down on his lower lip and shuts his eyes before shaking his head imperceptibly to everyone other than the man standing next to him, who’s shoulders were shaking in silent laughter.

 

“Um, hi, over here,” Kyle pipes up finally, and does a small wave to the interviewer. “Can I have a quick look at the other lot?” he asks and Blaine shrugs his shoulders and hands the blue paper over to him.

 

He opens it carefully and pulls the cards out from inside and he huffs a humourless laugh.

 

“Who was it?” Dan calls over to him and Kyle holds up one of the cards in response.

 

“Haim,” he says and throws them down in front of him. “Yeah so this was just my dumb luck then,” he adds to no one in particular. Woody looks at him again and smirks. “Shut up,” he says to him.

 

“So the first question is…what are the names of the members of Twenty One Pilots?”

 

“You do realise this is unfair right?” Will comments from beside Dan, but the four of them silently write down their answers.

 

A bell rings signifying that their time is up and the two teams hold up the correct answer written down on their boards.

 

“You spelled Josh’s name wrong,” Kyle pipes up suddenly as he realises that Dan had spelled Dun with two ‘n’s’. As everyone looks at him with smiles in their eyes he feels his face flush red. “Oh, you can all shut up,” he says and looks back down at the table again as he wipes the pen off of the surface.

 

The game goes on like that for a few turns, before the final question is read out.

 

“Which actress has Josh been seen out with recently fuelling rumours they are back together again?”

 

Silence blankets the room. Kyle stands looking at his fingers and he can feel himself silently praying that someone else will say something. There is a small cough from someone in the back of the crowd watching them and he sneaks a look at the fans and can see them all looking as confused as he was sure the rest of the guys other than Dan were.

 

The bell rings to let them know their time was up and only Kyle holds up the board with Debby’s name on it.

 

“What?” Woody says more loudly than anything. “You know about it?” he says and Kyle just shrugs.

 

Dan looks over at them and Kyle knows he can see the worry in his own face. Kyle has no idea how he was going to play this. He knew that he was just going to have to go with whatever narrative everyone else made up around him at that moment in time and he sends a pleading look to his best friend. 

 

“Well no one actually thought they were, like, going steady or anything right? Kyle – and I’m sure Josh too – are both really busy with touring and stuff so they see loads of other people,” Dan breaks the silence. “Anyway, did we win? I’m sure being a singer I get some sort of bonus point right?”

 

Kyle stares at him. He has no idea what his little speech has just done, but he knows he needs to call Josh as soon as he can.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to say sorry for disappearing. Seriously. OK, please enjoy : )

“Babe, stop scratching!”

 

“Huh?” Josh looks over to where the voice had come from. Debby glares back at him through slitted eyes and then gestures towards his leg. He makes a funny annoyed sound from the back of his throat, scrunches his noise and then folds his arms in front of his chest to stop himself from doing it again.

 

He had had his hard cast off for about a week now, and had been left with a removable one to use when he was walking around. The worst thing about it was that now he could actually reach his ankle, it itched like a bitch and he couldn’t stop from reaching into his cast and scratching – even when he didn’t know he was doing it. This had been the fourth time since he had been picked up in Debby’s limo that she had told him off for doing it. All he could think was that one of his sisters – or probably Jordan – had messaged her to give her instructions for the night on how to look after him.

 

That was the first thing that was bothering Josh. The second thing was that his family felt the need to tell his ex-girlfriend exactly how to look after him for the whole twenty-four hours he was out of their sight. It wasn’t as if he was a fricking grown-ass man who had moved across the country to live on his own! He had been in New York for 3 hours and he had already had five messages making sure he was alright and that he would definitely remember to do his physical therapy before he went to sleep and when he woke up. This was the down side of having a physical therapist for a dad. Immediately his wrist buzzed as another message pinged into his cell.

 

_Momma D – sweetie, be careful alright? Make good choices! See you soon!_

Sighing, he stuffs his hands between his thighs where he was sitting on the long bench seat in the back of the sleek black car he had been travelling in. He drops his head back against the head rest and stares out of the scenery not so speedily passing now they were in the centre of Manhattan traffic.

 

And that was the third problem. While he had been getting regular ‘be well’ messages from his family and the normal ‘you’re out of the band’ messages from Tyler, he had heard absolutely nothing from Kyle for two weeks now.

 

He had caught a lot of the press they had been doing in the different states they had visited, but something had clearly happened in the one interview he had missed, because Kyle had turned from his normal sarcastic, albeit charming self into a monosyllabic, glum and bored shadow of someone Josh barely knew.

 

“Stop it!” Debby slaps his knee and gets his attention again. He turns and looks at her with his ever ready smile. “Don’t look at me like that Joshua, you’re gonna enjoy tonight if I have to make you myself,” she adds and Josh had forgotten exactly how fierce the brunette could be. He gives her a two fingered mock salute as the car slid up to the kerb and stopped. As if by magic, the door next to the drummer flew open and he knew it was time to get into ‘celeb’ mode.

 

He slipped out of the car as elegantly as he could. Big black tie evenings were not something he was used to. He never felt comfortable until he had been in the moment for at least an hour or two. He limped on his blue boot to the edge of the door and then held his hand out for his other half to grab onto and step onto the red carpet that they were walking on.

 

Debby was radiant tonight and admittedly he hadn’t scrubbed up too badly either. Her gown skimmed the floor with a thigh high slit which demurely showed off her bronzed legs for everyone to see. It was feather light organza in a dusky pink with hand beading all over it making it look like a shimmering waterfall when the light hit it just right, and when she turned for the cameras, the lack of cleavage and skin at the front was rewarded by a completely backless wonder. Josh knew that even six months ago he would have fallen head over heels for this girl again.

 

The bulbs flashed from all over as he led her towards where the roped off area for press photographs were and he knew that fans and people at the velvet cordons were looking at the girl on his arm and the fact he didn’t know what they were thinking in that moment was starting to make his anxiety and panic rise inside him.

 

Time flew passed, and he wasn’t even too sure what he had said when he was asked questions. He remembers mumbling something about Tom Ford and agreeing when an interviewer said how cute they looked together. Deep down he knew as soon as he had said it that it was the wrong thing to say, but it was too late now. Everyone there thought he and Debby were back together.

 

Suddenly, his airway started to feel a lot tighter than it had not even a few seconds earlier. He felt flushed, and he knew he was starting to sweat. He could feel anger building up inside for no reason, and the overwhelming feeling of ‘ESCAPE, ESCAPE’ was scrolling through his brain on a loop.

 

He dropped the hand he had been holding – Debby’s? – and started to turn on the spot, looking for some way in which to leave the vestibule he had found himself in surrounded by people dressed up to the nines and laughing and drinking as if they didn’t have a care in the world.

 

Seeing the tell-tale green EXIT sign in the corner, he bolts towards it, not hearing or seeing anyone around him. He pushes the door open and breathes in total relief as the rush of cool oxygen fills his lungs.

 

Then he coughs loudly as he realises he must have found the smokers exit and the overwhelming taste of nicotine and tar fills his mouth.

 

“Are you finished freaking out now?” Josh doesn’t even bother to turn around at the question. He rests his forehead against the brick of the alley and he tries to avoid breathing in second hand cigarette smoke.

 

“’m not freakin’ out,” he mumbles back to her petulantly, knowing full well that’s what it had looked like for other people. “Panic attack,” he adds as if that would explain everything.

 

“Caused by?” the matter of fact tone continues from behind him.

 

“They all think I’m with you now,” he says, his voice only slightly stronger while he was away from the hustle and bustle of people around him.

 

“Okay, well let’s not open the can of worms that statement just created,” Debby deflects. “It’s a good thing my self-esteem is good here mister,” she adds, shoulder bumping into him. She’s rewarded with a slight curl up of the edges of his mouth as he realises what she said was a joke. “You’re a total idiot Joshua Dun, do you know that? You are so lucky you’re pretty,” she says and she grabs her ex-boyfriend’s elbow and drags him back into the large red velvet and wood entrance he had only just escaped.

 

She pulls him into a secluded corner, a large overgrown cheese plant seemed to look out of place as it towers over them, almost sheltering them from the looks of the other celebrities and VIP’s that surrounded them. A waiter wanders past with a silver tray filled with flutes of what could only be champagne, and the woman grabs two glasses before they disappear forever.

 

“Here, drink this,” she forces the alcohol into his hand and watches him sternly take a sip before she tastes her own. “You haven’t looked around here at all have you?”

 

Josh frowns at her as if she had completely lost her mind. “Debs, its full of celebrities and important people I’ll never know! I’m here for you dude, remember?”

 

Sighing, she lifts one of the large heart shaped leaves from in front of them and gestures into the crowd. “Will you please look?” she asks, now exasperated by the situation.

 

He rolls his eyes and does as she asks, finally focusing on the crowd as individuals instead of a large beast trying to hunt him down.

 

He looks at men in tuxes just like him and beautiful women in gowns that cost enough to feed a family of five for a year. He sighs and goes to turn back to the girl next to him. But the something catches his eye.

 

A loud fuchsia velvet tuxedo jacket, mixed with a dark blue pencil skirt but as his eyes skimmed upwards he was rewarded with the face of a dark haired gentleman with a thin moustache and flawless eye makeup.

 

Looking again, he sees flowered tuxedos, women in pin striped suits, men in drag and he realises he sees more than the normal amount of LGBTQ members than he would expect at a black tie dinner.

 

Feeling confused he scans the room again and finally finds what he was looking for, and he has no idea how he missed it the first time he walked in:

 

_“Welcome to the LGBTQ community and friends! A charity dinner and performances raising money for LGBTQ charities and services!”_

Was being proclaimed loudly from a large white sign proudly positioned at the front door.

 

“Like I said, Dun. It’s a good thing you’re pretty,” Debby smirks and winks and then grabs his hand as she pulls him into the large ballroom for the next part.


	8. Chapter 8

“Ow!”

Kyle rubs at his head and glares at his drummer friend. He looks down at his lap to where a drum stick was now lying in between the edge of the tatty brown leather sofa and his leg. He picks it up and throws i directly back at him. It misses him by a mile.

“Cheer up mate, might never happen,” Woody replies to the spectacular missed throw.

“Think it already has,” Kyle murmured back and sighs deeply. He misses the look between the drummer and his best friend.

“You’ve not even spoken to him since that day, so why the fuck are you being like this?”

Dan was fed up of his friend’s morose features and grumpy demeanour. Kyle’s resting bitch

face was one thing, but the constant scowl at everyone around them was beginning to make the whole tour feel like the worst thing they had ever done. Even Erica - who always hung on Kyle’s every word when they were together - had disappeared off to hang out with some of the new roadies.

“Don’t need to speak to ‘im” the mumbling continued and Kyle crossed his arms and legs petulantly. “He wants the full on happy two point five kids, house and a mortgage with a bombshell. I looked a photos of them together. It’ll be what his family want. He won’t want me now.”

“I don’t like this,” Woody proclaims to the room as a whole. “This isn’t right,” he continues and waves his arms indicating Kyle’s entire being.

He spins on his heel and he catches Will’s oblivious elbow as he passes. “You! You know relationships! You sort this!”

“You’re married Woody,” Will points out calmly.

“It doesn’t mean I know how it happened! Deal with him!”

Will turns and looks at the younger man and just shrugs at him. Kyle shrugs back, pulls his hood over his head and grabs a pair of sunglasses off of the table in front of him.

“Those are mine,” Dan calls from behind him and he gets the middle finger in return.

The door closes silently behind them and Woody looks at the singer who just gives a worried look in return.

“Well at least he’s still in there somewhere.”

—-

They couldn’t leave the building. They were due to go on in the next hour or so and it was too busy outside for them to safely get out and back quickly. Dick gave them a look as they left the room they had been assigned and gave a quick nod and a raised eyebrow after tapping his watch - telling them silently they had to keep to schedule and Will just nodded as they passed.

Stage managers, roadies and handlers all passed them not even paying any attention as the walked down the bland back hallway into another generic room - this one not made up for any bands or artists. Will pulls out two hard plastic chairs, looks them down loudly and gestures for his friend to take a seat.

“So we’re meant to talk then?” Will finally asks as he sits down opposite Kyle.

“Okay. Well I think we should fire the bus driver,” Kyle replies grumpily, collapsing into the chair and spreading his long leafs out in front of him.

“Kyle we flew here,” Will points out, not even phased by the complete avoidance of the situation.

“I meant when we get back. I can’t fucking sleep when he’s throwing the bus around at like seventy miles an hour around corners.”

And Will grabbed that opening with both hands and ran with it.

“You sure it’s because of the driving?” He asks with a raised eyebrow.

Kyle narrows his eyes and glares back at the older man. “Not cool, Will. Not cool.”

“Look. You’re clearly miserable. You haven’t spoken to him and he hasn’t tried calling you. Maybe this thing has run its course, Kyle.”

Kyle stares at his fingers and chews the inside of his mouth not wanting to reply to anything. He didn’t want to have this conversation. He was doing perfectly well ignoring the problem and he didn’t need to focus or concentrate on it.

“It was only a short term thing and you were barely together. It couldn’t be love, mate,” Will continues on. “It’s crap but maybe it’s for the best?”

Kyle mumbles something incoherently and Will does a double take, unsure whether he had heard anything at all.

“What?”

“He hasn’t been ignoring me,” Kyle repeats after a long sigh. He pulls his phone out from his jeans pocket, unlocks it and throws it towards him.

The screen flashes with all the missed calls and unread messages he had gotten from Josh over the past two weeks. Wills eyes widen at the sight and hands the mobile back to his friend.

“So you’ve been ignoring him,” Will asks finally with a nod of understanding. “Well I don’t think that’s something I can be angry with him for,” he explains with a sigh.

“I’m ignoring the inevitable,” Kyle says, a look of resignation on his face.

“You’re being a fucking idiot is what you’re doing,” Will replies. “And making us all feel like shit at the same time.”

Kyle startles when he looks up and sees Will glaring at him. “We’re fucking sick of it, cheer up or pretend to be happy or at least ring him and end it,” the ultimatum makes Kyle stop and take in what was actually being told to him.

He hadn’t wanted to do that, but it was true that just letting it go longer and longer without speaking was going to just cause more problems. He had to ring and talk it out with him and if Josh wanted to leave him for the doe eyed twat (okay he had made an assumption, Sue him he was upset) then so be it. If that was the case he didn’t deserve Kyle anyway. He was Kyle Fucking Simmons and he didn’t take shit from anyone - apart from his band mates, close friends and family; but he’d learned that lesson the hard way.

“Not tonight,” and he taps his fingers on the table next to him. “He’s at that thing anyway. He won’t answer. But in the morning I will get this thing sorted, I promise. Pinky promise even,” and he holds his pinky out to Will for him to shake in return. Will looks at it disdainfully and shakes his head.

“Don’t leave me hangin’ William!” Kyle calls and quickly stands to chase after him as he walks away and back towards their room, his shoulders shaking in silent laughter.

—-  
As they enter through the plush velvet curtains, Debby continues to keep her eyes on Josh to see his reaction. The ballroom had been transformed from what he imagine was normally a pretty impressive room into a fairyland of chiffon in purples of different shades. Tiny lights lit up all the different areas and large round tables had been set up to seat groups of twelve; a large formal seating plan directing people where to go.

He finds his and Debby’s names on the large board and then continues to find the table. It was one at the front of the room near a large stage with a red velvet curtain trimmed in gold covering what was obviously to come later.

“Oh my...” his exclamation left unfinished as he sits down, a rainbow flag gift bag at his place, something he would inspect when he was bored later. He slides it to his feet under the table and looks around.

They had been some of the last to enter and take their places, so everyone else was seated around them. He introduced himself and let Debby say hello to the girls she knew before she was swept up into an intense conversation with Rowan Blanchard about something to do with fashion - something Josh would never be interested in or knowledgeable of.

In his pocket he could feel his phone sitting heavily, his earlier text to his boyfriend still unanswered. He makes an internal decision to try and forget about Kyle for the evening and enjoy his debut entrance into the LGBT world.

He daydreamed through the welcoming speech. He was just so happy that finally he was able to be himself in public. People had been speculating about his and Kyles relationship for months, but now this was it. Come tomorrow he would be outed for everyone to see. A flurry of panic affected him when he realised Tyler would need to know as soon as he left tonight so he would be able to sort his own head out for the fallout. But now, in this moment he was able to be Josh Dun, a man who was accepted for what he really was.

It wasn’t until halfway through the entree that he actually realised the woman he had been sitting next to for the whole time was in fact Taylor Swift - who had actually been trying to engage him in some sort of scintillating conversation for the entire beginning of the meal.

“...I mean it’s really amazing that you’re here for this cause, like, supporting so many of the LGBT community and being part of it yourself is just amazing,” finally registered into his brain and he looks over and almost does a double take when he realises who it is. “But how is that going? Your relationship? I mean being here with Debby does that mean it’s over with that man?” She asks with false empathy and almost an intense sense of excitement at the thought he was single.

“No! No, no, me and Kyle are awesome! Thanks! He’s making his way through his tour and I’m resting up my leg before we go back on tour or I’d be there with him,” Josh smiles widely at the singer, hoping that his face didn’t betray the sense of fear that his relationship was over.

“Oh so he’s a singer too?” She asks, her smile fading a bit as he talks.

“Er, no, not really? He’s in a band, he plays keys and other things. He’s really talented,” and he can feel his cheeks heating up and he hopes that Debby doesn’t see the blush and overhear him gushing about Kyle.

His prayers seem to be answered as a squealing noise comes from a microphone as Ellen Degeneres returns to announce something.

“Ladies, gentlemen and others, before we start with the speeches and your desert, we have some exciting performances for you to enjoy! We have a range of artists for you to enjoy tonight, but our first group are some very dashing men from across the ocean. Managing to take some time off of their busy schedule touring around the country and singing some of their newest songs; please welcome - Bastille!”

The velvet curtain rises and reveals the very person Josh had been praying silently every night to see. He drops his fork from where it had been hanging in midair and in the silence everyone looks towards him, especially the extremely tall bearded man standing behind the synths and keys on stage.

Their eyes meet for the first time since they parted in New Zealand. Kyle’s mouth gapes widely and Josh can’t think of anything to do but wave and smile as widely as he can.

“Oh is that him?” Taylor asks inquiringly and gets no response from the drummer.

“Yeah,” Debby supplies helpfully. “That’s him,” and she smiles fondly at Josh as hearts start to float through his eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! So just a quick note. I’ve been away....let’s say travelling for the past week and so it’s all been written on my phone. Got a bit of inspiration visiting Bologna ;p 
> 
> Anyway, any mistakes let me know. And hope you guys are liking now I’m actually updating again!
> 
> Let me know


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